Shattering the Original
Glass Ceiling
USGlass Magazine’s First Ever Report: Women in the Industry

by Ellen
Rogers

While the glass and glazing industry historically has been,
and continues to be, predominantly male, an increasing number of women
are stepping up and getting involved. Some enter the family business;
others arrive because their research and development studies led them
there; some fell in just by chance. But one thing many of these women
have in common is they simply never made being a woman “in a man’s world”
an issue. They have a job to do and they do it—and they do it well.

The role of women in this industry has transitioned from
the support, administrative realm to some of the highest leadership positions.
And the odds are good those roles will continue to evolve to even higher
and higher levels.

Over the next 15 pages you can read about some of these
dynamic women who are actively involved in changing the face of the glass
industry. They are leaders, managers, directors. They volunteer in their
communities. They are students and teachers. For the list we chose to
focus solely on for-profit companies and therefore it does not include
women leaders directly involved with associations or other not for profit
groups.

If you know a woman who is leading the charge within the
glass industry, please email erogers@glass.com to nominate her for the
2014 edition.

Vianey Barrera
Process manager,
Guardian Industries
El Marques, Querétaro, Mexico
“Twenty years ago in my country, women [in] a profession such as chemical
engineering were relegated to jobs mainly in education,” says Vianey Barrera.
“Today is different and the glass industry participates in this change.
I consider myself an example of the change.”

Barrera, who has a master’s degree in chemical engineering,
joined Guardian Industries in 2003 after ten years in the chemical industry.
She also conducted performance testing for the automotive industry.

“I had accumulated along the way some experience with the
raw materials that are included in glass manufacturing,” she says. “I
fell in love with this industry.”

Over the course of her career with Guardian she has focused
on a variety of process improvement areas such as raw materials, furnaces,
quality control and lower line items.

“I have kept in mind the structured methodology that is
normally followed in a R&D laboratory,” she says.

For Barrera, being a part of managing the technical group
for a large float glass plant and contributing to its success has been
a significant accomplishment.

On a global basis, she also sees the participation of women
in the labor force increasing.

“Women around the world have been moving into occupations,
professions and managerial jobs,” she says. “Over the last few decades,
women have attained educational levels comparable to those of men in many
countries and have been increasingly hired in jobs previously reserved
for men.”

Valerie Block
Senior marketing specialist,
DuPont Wilmington, Del.
You might say that the glass business—the laminated glass business to
be exact—is in Valerie Block’s blood. Her father, Martin Lerner, had owned
a glass business, which was then called Laminated Glass Corp. and while
in grad school she needed to make a little money.

“So I started working there part time and it ended up being
a place I didn’t want to leave,” she says of the family glass business.

As she spent more and more time in the industry she began
attending association meetings and that’s how she came to know Bill Birch,
who was then executive vice president of the Glass Association of North
America (GANA).

“He asked me to serve as technical consultant to GANA and
then I became the technical director for the Primary Glass Manufacturers
Association, before joining DuPont.”

While Block today has a hearty chunk of knowledge when it
comes to glass fabricating and manufacturing, her educational background
wasn’t technical. She attended Ithaca College where she majored in communication,
and also has two master’s degrees in organizational dynamics and business
planning.

She recalls in her early industry days there were not many
women in this field.

“Many times I would be the only woman and young at that.
And there were all these men who had been around for years and years and
they were so nice, so supportive and generous with their knowledge,” she
says. “I got all this technical background in how generous people were
with sharing their knowledge and they still are.”

One of those mentors was the late Harry Miles, who was then
with AFG.

“He told me, ‘Think big. Don’t pigeon-hold yourself in a
particular role. Stretch.’ And there were times when I would feel the
people around me were more knowledgeable than I was and I should keep
my mouth shut. But I followed that advice to grow,” she says.

Over the years Block has worked hard in her career, despite
the obstacles in her life.

“I am a two-time cancer survivor,” she says, having battled
breast cancer when she was younger and early-stage ovarian cancer more
recently. “In the whole scheme, none of this [professional accomplishments]
is important; what’s important is being a good wife, mother, person, grandmother,”
she says. “I could step out of my day-to-day role and know the real legacy
is my interaction with others and family. That’s what’s important to me.
On the glass side, I’ve always counted on people I know and friends I’ve
made … to create a satisfying work career, but it pales to my personal
goals.”

Karen Colacino
President, Hal’s Glass Co. Inc.
Bellflower, Calif.
Like father, like daughter, may not be as frequently heard as like father,
like son, but it is heard often by Karen Colacino, president of Hal’s
Glass.

“My father (Donn Harter) owned this business so I would
come in as a child on Saturdays and clean up the warehouse. I started
here in the office in 1970 when I was in high school on Saturdays. It
was my first job. I went on to have several other jobs in other industries
but kept returning to my home base. I finally bought the business in 1990,”
she says.

And over the years she admits she’s pretty much done every
job there is in the company.

“At first it was just sales in the office and answering
phones. During college it evolved to a full time summer job doing the
bookkeeping and accounting, which allowed my mother the summer off,” she
says. “When I finally came back full time, I went into the service end
and was the dispatcher. I liked the glass business. The service end is
never dull. I made it a point to understand the mechanics of measuring
and installing even going out in the trucks to help or observe.”

While more and more women are entering the glass business,
Colacino says it’s still not an easy one.

“There are lots of ups and downs and [the industry] has
certainly been affected by the economic and political climates, but it
is always challenging and changing,” she says. “I think women add a lot
to residential sales as we are more often than not dealing with women
clients when it comes to home improvement. I measure, help design and
in some cases help install glass and mirrors in bathrooms, kitchens and
cabinets. I have found that women are more detail oriented and better
at multitasking, which is critical in this business, and better at sales.”

Dina Dwyer-Owens
CEO/Chairwoman The Dwyer Group
Glass Doctor parent company
Waco, Texas
In 1998 the Dwyer Group acquired Glass Doctor and, according to Dina Dwyer-Owens,
“The thing that has always stood out to me is how well Glass Doctor, its
franchise owners and its front-line service professionals, felt right
at home with our code of values and the way we do business across our
service brands,” she says. “From the minute we welcomed Glass Doctor to
our annual reunion after that acquisition, I knew these professionals
would prosper, and so would the Glass Doctor name.”

Over the years, Dwyer-Owens has focused heavily on franchising
as the business model that would best grow Glass Doctor.

“We are a positive voice for franchising and small business,
and we seek an audience in areas of legislation, access to credit, and
small-business growth and prosperity for the benefit of our brands, the
ability to create jobs and positively impacting the economy,” she says.
She also recently launched a Women in the Trades program to help recruit
and train female frontline service professionals.

While professionally she has seen many successes, she says
her life’s greatest achievement is at home, as a wife and mother and having
the ability to balance both work and family.

“I am an example that women can have both, put family first,
and experience a rewarding life. I give credit to my faith and to God
for the ability to prioritize where it matters most. It is not an easy
task, but hard work has its rewards.”

In that respect, she adds that everyday more and more women
are proving themselves and breaking down barriers in every profession
imaginable. “I had my fair share of naysayers as I assumed the role of
CEO [here]. I simply asked to let my work speak for itself. I knew that
I brought an invaluable perspective to my industry and the male-dominated
trades that the Dwyer Group represents across its franchise family.”

Karen Elkin
President, Classic Glass Inc.
Alexandria, Va.
It was quite by accident that Karen Elkin found herself in the glass industry.
She started out as an elementary school teacher in upstate New York, but
moved to Washington, D.C., in 1980 to begin developing and writing teaching
materials for the then newly formed Department of Energy.

“When my grant was cut I decided to stay in the area and
expand on my hobby-level stained glass skills by apprenticing in a local
glass shop,” she says. “I met my partner, Robert O’Toole, there and we
soon decided to start our own business. Robert taught me everything he
knew about sandblasting and beveling glass. We worked 24/7 in those days.
It was a lot of hard work but so much fun.”

Elkin recalls their first big job was for the American College
of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, where they carved a 48-inch diameter
of the organization’s seal, which was to be the focal point in the lobby.

The glass industry has also provided Elkin with plenty of
learning opportunities and experiences.

“One [experience] that stands out was the time our installer
needed to stand on top of an elevator cab with our glass because I had
neglected to measure the interior of the elevator cab and the glass wouldn’t
fit,” she says. “I was a nervous wreck, but it all worked out. After that
I learned to always measure the elevator when doing a field measure.”

Living and working near the nation’s capital has also given
Elkin the opportunity to work on many memorable projects. Her company
has done installations as part of the Lincoln Memorial, 14 marble tablets
carved with Lincoln’s quotes, and the Jefferson Memorial, a “bigger-than-life
size” bust of Jefferson.

Elkin, who also serves on the board of the Mid Atlantic
Glass Association, says while the percentage of women in the glass industry
is still small, there does seem to be more and more getting involved.
“I do think that there are many more women estimators and project managers
than in the past and there are definitely more women in related fields,”
she says.

Jill Foxworth
National sales manager, Dependable Glassworks
Covington, La.
Ever since she was a little girl, Jill Foxworth has been a part of the
glass industry.

“I remember going on vacations when I was younger and not
understanding why we would stop and look at storefronts or glass buildings,
now I do the same thing,” she says. Both her father, Norm Foxworth, and
grandfather were in the glass industry and she spent time even in high
school working for the company, then doing jobs such as posting payments,
mailing statements and filing.

In 1985 she earned her bachelor’s degrees in psychology
and sociology.

“Being a family business I am involved in all aspects of
the company from accounting to shipping,” she says. “My main focus is
handling the sales side of projects.” She also coordinates the company’s
internal team on the design aspects and “how we fabricate, and the challenges
presented by designers and architects.”

“Not only do we work with glass companies, but we are involved
directly in the design aspect with architects, from the design concept
period until that vision comes to fruition,” she says. “It gives you a
sense of accomplishment to know you were a part of something and it is
difficult to put a dollar amount on that feeling. I am not sure you can
even buy it; it’s similar to standing on top of a mountain,” she says.

And standing on a mountain is something Foxworth in fact
did, too, when she climbed to Mount Everest base camp. “Doing these types
of climbs has changed my views in many aspects, but has also made me a
stronger person in business.”

Everyone has their own unique first impression of the glass
industry. Mazy Gillis, who has been with Guardian for about 18 months,
was surprised to learn the plants never shut down. “We are a 24/7, 365
day operation coupled with the fact that we have operations on five continents.
This requires a huge level of commitment and dedication from all of our
employees, especially those with global roles.”

Before joining Guardian Industries Gillis spent a decade
in the field of executive coaching and development. She says it’s most
rewarding when someone she has coached in the past calls to tell her about
a promotion or a significant achievement in their lives.

Even in her short time at Guardian, she has seen the significant
role played by many women throughout the company.

“Women are contributing across all disciplines at Guardian
every day. For example, we have women in key roles in our float plant
operations, sales and marketing, finance and accounting, engineering design,
legal and supply chain functions.”

Letitia Haley Barker
President, Haley-Greer
Dallas, Texas
Letitia Haley Barker’s first taste of the glass business came in the 1970s
when her father, Don Haley, started the Dallas-based contract glazing
firm Haley-Greer.

“I was only there two years and then moved away and went
to work in human resources for 15 years.”

Years later, she re-located back to Texas, and was looking
for a job when her dad told her he’d like for her to work for him.

“He said that he knew how to build a building and thought
I had the experience to benefit the company,” she said.

Becoming actively involved in growing Haley-Greer also meant
opening herself up to areas outside her comfort zone. She says when she
took the glazier’s exam, for example, everyone in the office was taking
bets as to how badly she would fail.

“My dad wanted me to take it. So, I got the books and the
manual and I sat down with him and he gave me lessons,” she recalls. “I
did not have trouble with the business part of the test, but the glazing
portion was difficult. In the end, I only missed two questions more than
the other gentleman from the company who had been there for years. It
was the greatest moment ever and my dad was so proud of me. It was probably
one of the most defining moments for me.”

In 2003 her father began stepping back and appointed his
daughter as president of the company. The change, she says, has brought
some interesting experiences.

“Going from getting the call where someone says ‘is your
dad there I need to talk to him,’ to now having them come to me with their
questions; we knew that would be the case so we had to have time for people
to get to that comfort level,” she says.

In addition, she is heavily involved with the the American
Subcontractors Association at both the local and national level.

Caroline Harris
Associate director of Research and Development,
PPG Industries
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Caroline Harris knows glass. From aerospace to construction, and over
the past 26 years she’s been involved with many facets of glass R&D.

“I was attracted to the industry because I have always liked
manufacturing. I was fascinated by the float glass process, the enormity
of it—melting sand, a continuous strand of ribbon that is never-ending—and
everything else that goes into it,” she says.

With an undergraduate degree from the University of North
Carolina and a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from Northwestern University,
she joined PPG after doing post-doctoral work at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
She’s since had her hands in the development of many products.

“I was heavily involved in the development of Sunclean®
glass. It was the first product I worked on from the lab to the production
line. I also worked with the marketing people to help it get accepted
in the marketplace,” she says, remembering that while it was very difficult,
it was a lot fun, too.

“We traveled with our team to introduce the product on
Good Morning, America. We weren’t on the air, but we were on the
set, getting the glass ready, cleaning it, making sure it was going to
function properly,” she says.

More recently, she’s been involved with the development
of a new material for the aerospace transparency industry, called Opticor™
advanced transparency material.

“There hasn’t been a new material introduced there since
the 1950s and this, we believe, will prove to be a significant advance,”
she says.

Connie K. LaFayette
Regional manager, solar energy products,
NSG Group
Toledo, Ohio
“Every industry values knowledge, talent and hard work regardless of gender,
and the glass industry is no different,” says Connie LaFayette, who began
her industry career in 1990 when she joined what was then LOF Glass. Beginning
as a project engineer in the automotive original equipment (OE) organization,
she moved into OE sales and marketing and has held various regional and
global roles of increasing responsibility within the Pilkington organization.

LaFayette has a bachelors of science in industrial engineering
from Kettering University (formerly known as General Motors Institute)
and a master’s degree from the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor. While
her career path includes automotive and manufacturing, these traditionally
male fields did not intimidate her.

“The only boundaries are the ones we set for ourselves
and I see an increasing number of women assuming roles in industries that
have been traditionally dominated by males.”

Stephanie Lamb
Vice president, Giroux Glass
Las Vegas, Nev.
Stephanie Lamb has come a long way since her start in the glass business
in 1977. Fresh out of high school she began with a clerical position at
Northrup Architectural. “I had no specific training, just mentors along
the way,” she says. “I’ve worked in residential and then commercial, estimating
and then project management.”

In 2000 she was living and working in Las Vegas for CDC
Consulting when someone she knew from Giroux Glass in Los Angeles told
her the company wanted to start a Las Vegas branch and asked if she would
be interested in heading it up. She thought it would be a good opportunity.
It was a risk she was willing to take.

And it’s paid off.
“I’m beyond proud of starting this division. In 2000 this town was tight-nit
… the local boys … yet we were able to build it to where we’re now one
of the top three go-to’s in this town when they didn’t know us 13 years
ago.”

For Lamb, every day there is something new and exciting
about the glass industry.

“Nothing is cookie cutter. You have to be able to envision
everyday what you’re looking at and what the outcome might be,” she says.

Beth Lesniak
Vice president, Grey Mountain Partners
Boulder, Colo.
People find their way into the glass business by all sorts of paths. For
Beth Lesniak, it was an investing and financial background that brought
her to it. Just a few years back, she recalls, the firm identified glass
fabrication as an industry of interest. At the time Grey Mountain was
the stalking horse bidder for Arch Aluminum & Glass. “We began learning
more about the industry and felt it was one in which we could add value,”
she says.

Lesniak attended Duke University where she studied economics
and finance. Her first encounter with the glass and fenestration industry
was in 2007 as an investor in the residential door and window manufacturer
Polar Window of Canada.

And while her time in the glass industry has been relatively
short, she says she is seeing how the role of women is changing—in all
businesses—particularly from a leadership standpoint.

“I think [glass is] no different than many building products
businesses and … there have not been a lot of females highlighted for
their contributions,” she says. “I feel in the past decade or two more
women have gotten involved and are building up the knowledge to be on
equal footing in a historically male dominated industry. I expect going
forward we will see a natural progression of females rising to the top.”

Nancy Mammaro
Owner, Mappi Italy and North America
Cisterna di Latina, Italy
From day one Nancy Mammaro loved the glass business; she loved to see
the products and how they changed. At one time, she recalls, everyone
was in the market for bending equipment; then it was flat glass; and now
she sees the increasing demand for laminated glass.

“There is always something to work on,” she says, remembering
the company’s transition as an Italian company into the U.S. and how “people
started to believe in us.”

Mappi has been in business since 1993 and Mammaro, whose
background is in accounting, became heavily involved in 1995 after spending
time in the U.S. to better learn the industry.

“I wanted to learn what the market was looking for since
we were more concentrated in Europe,” she says.

Today Mappi is selling its machinery lines all around the
world, but the company’s primary market is the United States—it’s the
market that Mammaro says is the strongest and the one with the most growth
potential.

Mammaro has also seen how the role of women is advancing
and evolving. She recognizes that in year’s past the glass industry was
perceived as being one primarily for men. This is changing. She says in
meeting with clients around they world, they no longer ask to speak to
a man.

“They can addresses anything with me,” she says. She also
is working to help other women who may be interested in working in this
field and has mentored a number of young women.

Anne-Merelie Murrell
Owner/CEO Giroux Glass
Los Angeles, Calif.
Anne-Merelie Murrell didn’t start out wanting to be in the glass business;
she actually just wanted the areas surrounding her alma mater, the University
of Southern California (USC), to be a nice place to live. She says at
one point in time USC was the area’s sparkling gem, but after periods
of depression and decline, had become undesirable.

“So, I bought an apartment, fixed it up and used it for
student housing. I later bought another.” In an effort to improve the
image of the area, she continued buying and renovating apartments for
students.

A few blocks north of the university, she recalls, there
was another area that looked tired and rundown; an area that people seeing
it for the first time might perceive all of Los Angeles to be like. She
recalls an old Victorian building and inquired if it was for sale. “It
was owned by Louie Giroux and around the corner he had a glass shop,”
she recalls, telling him she wasn’t interested in the glass shop. “But
he said the only way he’d sell [the building] was along with the glass
business, employees and all. So I said, ‘OK, I’ll take it on.”

She continues, “So here I am, a middle-aged women, standing
before these employees saying, ‘I’m the new owner and we have to work
on this together.’

And they did. The employees pulled together and grew to
become one of the top ten contract glaziers in the United States.

Looking back on her career as a woman in the construction
industry, she says indeed there are more and more women getting involved.
In fact, the company’s Las Vegas branch was started by and continues to
be led by a woman, Stephanie Lamb (see page 35). And being a woman in
a “man’s world” never bothered Murrell. She recalls she once heard Margaret
Thatcher speak and someone asked her if she was ever intimidated by the
men with whom she worked.

“And she responded, ‘I just had a job to do and I got on
with it.’”

Mandy Marxen
Vice president of marketing, Gardner Glass Products
North Wilkesboro, N.C.
With a degree in advertising from the University of North Carolina, Mandy
Marxen always thought she’d work in an advertising agency in a metropolitan
area. “But when I graduated the ‘pickins were slim.’ So, I moved home
to look for a job, and Mark Pegram, who was president of Gardner Mirror
at the time and a friend of my family’s … [offered me a short-term job]
to help with some line art,” she recalls, thinking she would take this
assignment while continuing to look for another. “But, he liked my portfolio
and called in John Meyers, who is now senior vice president, and they
offered me a full time job as the in-house art department.”

Marxen started in 1993, and says she “missed the rolling
good times of [North Carolina] being the mirror manufacturing capitol
of the word in the 1970s and 1980s.”

“People would regale me with those tales,” she says, noting
that’s what brought her to her first challenge.

“The owners realized the industry was changing and they
realized mirror couldn’t continue to be just it; it was a commodity product,”
she says. “They had to have something new to make this more exciting and
get more product to the wall—surfaces—and that’s why I stayed so long
because there was an opportunity to be creative.”

Those creative opportunities also gave her the chance to
design the company’s Dreamwalls brand, which she sees as a great achievement.

“This was an industry not big on marketing, and was more
content to depend on OEMs to carry them through, so to give marketing
the power to create and develop new brands and products has been most
rewarding for me.”

She is actively involved with GANA.

Diana Perreiah
President, Kawneer North America
Norcross, Ga.
While Diana Perreiah has been in the glazing industry for almost four
years, she’s been in the aluminum industry for 26 years. With Alcoa, she’s
been involved in many different aspects, from aerospace to automotive.
She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computational science from Hollins
University, a women’s college in Virginia, and today recognizes this industry
becoming increasingly global. As such, she is focused on understanding
global trends and implications of trends in North America.

“Another area of importance is the increasing emphasis
on sustainability and how companies and the industry can help facilitate
… the innovations we can bring to move and advance forward,” she says.

Likewise, she’s also working on strengthening the business
in challenging times.

“As an industry we’ve been focused on hunkering down and
surviving and hopefully now can leverage the plans for an upturn in the
market,” she says. “When you’re in that survival mode you have to have
those plans in place for an upturn.”

Looking back, Perreiah says the role of women has changed
in so many ways. And as women grow and become more involved in the professional
world many are also learning to balance their work and personal life.

“It’s funny how quickly your children learn to take advantage
of you when you’re working,” she says, laughing. “Handling business when
children are around, that’s when they figure out how to get what they
want. It’s a balance you have to find,” she says, adding, “family always
comes first.”

Helen Sanders
Vice president, technical business development,
Sage Glass
Faribault, Minn.
After finishing her Ph.D. in surface science at Cambridge in the U.K.,
Helen Sanders was looking for a job when she got an offer from Pilkington.
She was there for only four years before making the move to the United
States.

“My husband got a job with Sage as a scientist; I came
here without a job and spent the first few months figuring out life in
the U.S. (getting insurance, credit cards, buying a house, etc.)” she
recalls. “When I began looking for a job Sage’s CEO said, ‘why don’t you
work here, too?’ It was a great opportunity to work for a small company
in the industry and I’ve been here since 1999.”

About seven years ago she also became heavily involved
in various industry groups and associations. Her first experience was
with ASTM.

“I began by chairing the dynamic glazing task group and
over the years received a lot of support,” she says. “I’ve attended meetings
and I’ve made friends and become more confident to speak up and say something,
taking on a more active role.”

Looking back on her career, Sanders says she never felt
she was at a disadvantage because she was a woman.

“Everyone has always been very accepting and welcoming,”
she says. “We’re seeing lots more women in leadership and more women stepping
up to those roles.” And this is also a message she passes along to her
two daughters.

“My goal is to create strong, independent daughters who
are well educated. I want to show them by example that you can have a
career and a job that you love. You have to balance both work and family;
by working I have the opportunity to demonstrate to my daughters that
women can have [both],” she says, adding, “As John Van Dine [CEO and founder
of Sage] once told me, you don’t go home everyday because your work is
done, because your work is never done; you go home because you need to
go home.”

Cathie Saroka
Marketing director, Goldray Industries
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
In the mid 1980s Cathie Saroka worked for a sports council that provided
funding for Olympic athletes. Her husband, Greg, worked for a furniture
company.

“He came home one night and said, ‘Surprise! I quite my
job,’ and I said ‘Surprise! I’m pregnant.’ Neither had any experience
in the glass industry, but somehow that became the direction in which
they were headed.

“Greg was originally going to make lamps, but he had a friend
with a background in glass and he got to know the products and started
to go off on his own,” she explains. “We began by re-silvering mirror
and doing other small glass projects. Any time anyone asked if we could
do something Greg always said ‘yes.’”

Today Goldray is a significant fabricator of a wide assortment
of decorative glass products, and Cathie heads up all of its marketing
efforts. She became heavily involved with the business after their third
child was born and, as her first experience in the construction industry,
she recalls it was very much a male-dominated business.

“Often [men] wouldn’t like my answer and would ask to talk
to the man at the company,” she says. “They don’t do that anymore.”

When she was 40, Saroka earned her master’s degree from
the University of Calgary; she is also the company’s LEED AP—a test she
said was harder than earning her degree.

She also believes in the importance of giving back and
volunteers her time in her community, for example, with the area homeless.

“You certainly get back out of life what you put into it,”
she says.

And that ties right into what she says was some of the best
advice anyone ever gave her: “you are what you are because of what you’ve
done in life.”

“The truth is there were three females at the time I got
into the industry who you would run into; I’m sure there were more in
independent businesses but I didn’t see them: Cheri Kellman (formerly
with Globe Amerada), Val Block (see page 29) and me,” says Schimmelpenningh.
“That changed after a few years as more women started to come into the
industry and stay. I will never forget being called ‘missy’ and ‘gal’
but my favorite is when the ‘boys’ would forget I was there and curse—and
then apologize profusely! That has all changed, too; no more apologies.”

She continues, “Women are much more comfortable and accepted
in leadership roles. I think we will begin to see more corporate leaders
being female and hopefully more young professionals coming into the industry.

With a bachelor of science from Emmanuel College in Boston,
much of Schimmelpenningh’s work has been in research.

“My first memorable job was impacting headforms into windshields
to determine the head injury criteria,” she says. “From there I was put
on special assignments and eventually given the opportunity to be the
applications manager for Saflex and Vanceva brand PVB interlayers.”

Today, she also plays a significant part in a number of
industry groups and associations, including GANA. Her main focus areas
have been in industry education, standards and code development and product
qualification. In 2006 she also served as GANA’s first female president.

“But the proudest moment I have had was when I was involved
with the design for the encasement of the Bill of Rights and U. S. Constitution.
The day they unveiled the new protective cases to the public was as memorable
a moment as I can remember in the industry,” she says.

Kris Vockler
ICD High Performance Coatings
Vancouver, Wash.
There was a time when Kris Vockler begged her father, Larry Vockler, for
a job, not because she desperately wanted to work in the family business,
but because she needed a job.

“And he refused,” she says. “He did not believe in nepotism.”

With a degree in geology and background in chemistry, she
recalls there weren’t a lot of jobs in environmental engineering when
she graduated from Portland State University. So, eventually, her dad
gave in.

“I still had no desire at first to be there, but I eventually
started working my way through various jobs,” she says. “I went back to
school for more chemistry and a few years into it I got more involved
in GANA.”

She recalls, “The industry seemed very old; very stale and
everyone wore suits. It seemed so stuffy and was pretty much run by all
men—great men.” What stands out the most, she says, is the fact that everyone
has always been so helpful.

“People like Darrell Aldrich at Northwestern Glass Industries,
the late Bill Knutsen [then with Viracon] and Mitch Edwards of Guardian.
These fantastic people took me under their wings to help me excel.”

Vockler gives a lot of credit to her own role models and
leaders who helped her over the course of her career; they taught her
the importance of treating everyone the same.

“That can be applied to everyone from employees to customers.”

Linda J. Vos-Graham
President/owner Vos Glass Inc.
Grand Rapids, Mich.
Just a year after Clarence Vos started Vos Glass in 1982, he recruited
his daughter Linda to come on board.

“I was working for an ambulance service when I made the
move over,” she says. “It was a huge decision to go work for my parents
and it seemed exciting.”

At the time, she recalls, the business was much smaller
and her first role was to create and move forward the auto glass business.

“That was a big part of my first ten years,” she says,
noting she later worked in office and accounting positions and in 2001
got the call to run the company.

“As the second generation, all eyes are on you and [I soon]
saw the opportunity to grow and develop the company,” she says.

Today Vos Glass is involved not only in automotive glass,
but is also a significant player in Western Michigan’s contract glazing
industry—a part of the job she enjoys most.

“Construction is competitive and I am a competitive person.
There is an aspect of winning and losing but it’s a rewarding industry,”
she says.

Over the years she has been involved at the board level
with the American Subcontractors Association of Michigan, and in 2011
served as its first female president. She has served on the board of the
Associated Builders and Contractors of Western Michigan, and was founding
president of the Michigan Glass Association.

And she’s seen many changes over the years. These involve
new technologies and developments as well as an increasing push toward
energy-efficient products. She also expects further change, in particular,
the level of education and training that will be needed.

“I don’t have a college degree and neither did my father,”
she says. “But I think going forward we will see more and more [roles]
needing to have degrees. The ability to learn in the field and as you
go won’t happen as much; you need to couple that with a formal education.”

Randi Walters
Estimator, A-1 Glass
Englewood, Colo.
As a child Randi Walters saw her father, Craig Carson, vice president
at A-1 Glass, bring home blueprints and thought it was fascinating. So
by 16 she got her own start in the industry with a job at Elward Construction
Company, where her father worked at the time.

“They needed someone part time to answer phones in the summer.
I took the job and I’ve never been out of the glazing industry since.
That was 21 years ago.”

While Walters set out to study broadcasting, she soon had
a change in plans.

“Construction paid my mortgage, and I did not really have
the nomadic spirit that broadcasting requires,” she says. And as far as
construction education? That, she says, was simply the school of hard
knocks.

While Walters has been involved with pretty much all aspects
of the glass business, right now, she says, she is working on building
up a smaller projects division of the company. And being in this business,
she admits, has been an incredible opportunity. “Getting to work in a
place I love with people who I respect and love like they are my own family,
has been a great achievement.”

Mary Carol Witry
Chief operating officer,
Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope®
Dallas, Texas
When Mary Carol Witry started at Trainor Glass in 1987 it was her first
job.

“They needed secretarial help,” she recalls. So after a
couple of months of data entry it was time for a change.

“I got bored, talked to Bob Trainer [vice president at
the time, and later CEO] about learning and doing more. He had me work
as an assistant production scheduler for a while and that’s where I learned
the business.” Over the next 17 years she worked her way through many
positions, including project management, estimating, general management,
vice president and board member.

In 2004 she made the move to Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope®

Witry, who has no formal higher education, sees the goals
that she’s achieved, starting in an entry level position and working up
to senior level management, as a great achievement.

“In 1987 the world was different for everyone. Construction
was primarily male-oriented and now there’s more diversity – and not just
women – there’s many different people; it’s becoming a global melting
pot,” she says. “I never looked at the gender part of the business. Sometimes
people will use it as an advantage or a crutch, but if you’re a hard worker,
are honest, have integrity and want to learn you can do just about anything.”

She’s also been fortunate to learn from some well-known,
respected leaders in the glass industry. Recalling a lesson from her days
at Trainor, she say, “I was disappointed when we didn’t win a project
I was working on and I remember Ed Trainor [vice president at the time
and, later executive vice president] told me, ‘honest, intelligent effort
always pays off.’”

She also looks to her current boss, Ted Hathaway, her company’s
CEO, as a mentor. “I admire his ability to connect with people and energize
the team.”

Debra Levy
Owner Key Communications Inc.
Publisher USGlass magazine
Stafford, Va.
Debra Levy, owner of Key Communications and publisher of USGlass magazine,
is one woman who knows the glass business. She’s worked in this industry
for more than 30 years, is a member of the ANSI Z97 Architectural Glazing
Standards Committee and she has worked tirelessly to bring safety issues
surrounding architectural glass and automotive glass to light. She has
bachelor’s degrees in math and Spanish from the State University of New
York and a master's degree in economic development from Southern New Hampshire
University.

In 1993 Levy started her own company, now Key Communications,
with the purchase of USGlass magazine. Since then she has grown the company
with new publications, event organization and association management.

“I will never forget my interview at Key with Deb Levy when
I was 23. I had always wanted to write for a magazine but knew nothing
about glass, windshields or window film,” remembers Tara Taffera, publisher/editor
of DWM magazine, a USGlass sister publication, and vice president of editorial
services. “But, I had a desire to learn and she was the perfect mentor.”

Taffera says if you have that drive Levy is more than willing
to provide the opportunity. “After one year at the company I was promoted
from assistant editor to editor of USGlass. A few years after that I was
asked if I wanted to start my own magazine, DWM. What an opportunity to
learn from Deb all facets of the magazine business from circulation to
sales.”

Holly Biller, vice president of media services, was still
in high school when she began working part-time after school and during
summers for Levy.

“As a female leader, Deb shines in many respects. She is
a strong mentor, role model, goal-setter, entrepreneur and highly motivated
individual. Simply being in her presence has an osmosis effect on those
around her causing them to reach for greatness in all areas as well,”
says Biller. Many employees at Key Communications have been with the company
for more than ten years. Biller says this stems from Levy’s style of leadership
and a rarity in character, valuing employees’ needs first.

“The old adage of ‘Business is business; it's nothing personal’
doesn't apply here because Deb does make it personal when it comes to
caring for her staff,” says Biller. “She takes a standard office environment
and makes it a home for everyone who has the opportunity to work with
her. That level of dedication to employees also carries over to her customer
service policies and experiences our advertisers and readers receive when
communicating with our office.”

Biller adds, “A team is only as strong and sharp as its
leader and she continues to guide us through the waters, no matter what
economic ebb and flow we experience, ensuring all parties involved are
well cared for.” “There are several times that I go into her office with
a question, as I am stumped regarding a particular issue, and Deb immediately
has the right answer,” Taffera laughs, “I’m often asking myself, ‘Why
didn’t I think of that?’”

Editor’s note: We knew if we told Deb we wanted to include
her in this list of women she would humbly say no. So we had to do some
stealth reporting to get this in without her knowledge.

Mars Vs. Venus
If the majority of the women interviewed for this article agree on one
thing, it’s the fact that they never really felt all that different being
a woman working in the mostly male glass industry.

“I see the same varieties of people, whether male or female,”
says Valerie Block, senior marketing specialist with DuPont. “From the
whiners to the demanders, it’s not the sex or age of the person, but range
of personalities. So the challenge, as a manager, is figuring out how
to be a good leader regardless of [who’s on] your team.”

Helen Sanders, vice president with Sage agrees. “There is
a spread of personalities and [sometimes] you’re surrounded by the dominate,
go-get-‘em direct communicator males. While some women are also very direct,
more often women bring a slightly different perspective.”

“The key thing is having others to look up to and give you
the confidence to do it right,” adds Kris Vockler, CEO of ICD High Performance
Coatings.

“My mentors were men, but there were no females,” adds Block.
“My mentors were just amazing people, and never made me feel I could not
do it.”

Julie Schimmelpenningh, global architectural applications
manager with Eastman Chemical, adds, “You can go to any of the veterans
and they will be helpful. This is a unique industry; they love to teach
and it’s an art form and they want to ensure it has a lifespan that goes
on.”

“You don’t learn this in college,” agrees Sanders.

Block adds that there are many in the industry today who
are nearing retirement. It’s therefore becoming increasingly important
to educate others who can continue moving and directing the industry forward.

“If you’re receptive there are so many who would love to
share information and help you out,” she says.

Like Father, Like Daughter
Tales of fathers passing the business to their sons are nothing new. Now,
in the glass business at least, more and more fathers are bringing on
their daughters, prepping them to take over, lead and continue the family
business. And many agree, working with family brings its own share of
unique challenges and opportunities.

“My father feared nepotism and I had to beg for a job,”
recalls Kris Vockler, who is today CEO of ICD High Performance Coatings.
“And I felt I had fewer opportunities at first, because I wanted to make
sure people couldn’t complain [that there was favoritism]. There are those
who will think you get more in pay, benefits, etc. and it can become difficult.
But the key is the opportunity. Don’t think you’re given more opportunity
than someone else; I received the opportunities that I did simply because
I asked.”

Valerie Block, senior marketing specialist with DuPont,
also started in the industry with her father’s glass company, and has
a great first impression of the industry.

“I was attending the University of Michigan and had a part-time
job at a radio station and one day when driving to work I passed by one
of my dad’s customers,” she says. “And out of the blue, I went in to say
hello; I told them who I was and I was passing by and saw them and just
wanted to stop in and say hello. And they were so nice. I thought this
is really a friendly, nice industry and I liked the people in this industry.

“All the way through [my career], that’s the one thing
that’s been motivation for staying, I value the people in the industry.”

Jill Foxworth, national sales manager for Dependable Glassworks
says working with her father has been a rewarding experience.

“On the professional side, to have unlimited access to someone
who is willing to teach me what he knows has been rewarding,” she says.
“On the personal side, to be able to spend so much time with my father
has been priceless.”

Nancy Peterson, director of market communications for Azon,
says she, too, has been fortunate to work with her father, and has learned
from him each day.

“My dad has held a vital role in advancing thermal barrier
technology in architectural fenestration throughout the world for the
past 35 years. Of course he did have some ups and downs, but always the
optimist, he has tried to profit from any business failures by seeing
things through,” she says. “Every business leader ought to have the same
kind of vision and a plan as my dad for how they like to leave the world
better for future generations.”

Missy Palmer-Ball Bush has been a part of her family’s company,
Palmer Products, since she was young.

“I worked other places after graduating from college which
I think was a good thing. In 1984 my dad’s sister, who had worked in the
business, died of cancer and I took her position,” she recalls. “I worked
summers the last two years of high school and through college in the factory.
My father [Shirley Palmer-Ball] thought it was important for us to know
what it was like to work in the factory and to learn the business from
the ground up,” she says, noting that her sisters and other family members
also spent time working in the factory.

Bush, whose father passed away last August, says having
the opportunity to work with him as part of the family business, was a
wonderful experience.

“He came into the office up until the end of last May so
I worked with him and saw him almost every day for the last 28 years,”
she says. “I have also worked full time with two of my sisters and two
of my brothers. (In the past I also worked with two uncles and an aunt.)
At the moment, I work with two brothers, a sister and a sister-in-law.”

And though surrounded by so many family members, she says
there are actually few conflicts.

“We have regular challenges as any business does but we
work together to resolve the issues as they arise. We all have our areas
of expertise and within those areas our opinion will be weighted more
when making decisions,” she says. “We also continue the practice that
our father started of not taking business home with us. We almost never
discuss business at family occasions and that is helpful. My relationship
with my father was very close and very good. I learned a lot from him
about business and about family in a business since he also worked with
some of his siblings and his father. He was an excellent role model in
that regard.”